Common Cause Blog :: Diane Rehm Takes Tomlinson to the Woodshed

Diane Rehm Takes Tomlinson to the Woodshed

By Lauren Coletta
Posted on Wed May 18, 2005 at 01:29:05 PM EST

In her own gentle way NPR host Diane Rehm took CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson to the woodshed this morning. Tomlinson started off humble and said he hopes to lower the temperature on this debate and have a professional discussion about how the CPB is dealing with what he perceives to be problems of bias on NPR and PBS programming. Rehm did a masterful job of repeatedly exposing the contradictions in Tomlinson's actions and attitudes.

Rehm pointed out that on one hand Tomlinson hired a consultant to investigate bias on the NOW show when Bill Moyers hosted it, and at the same time he supported the allocation of $5 million dollars to create a show hosted by Paul Gigot editor of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a well known conservative paper with a singular point of view. Tomlinson denied making the decision to fund the WSJ program and suggested it was professionals at CPB who did it. Later in the discussion he acknowledged that he supports the WSJ program because it provides balance to the Moyers show and it was up to the public to decide what they wanted to watch.

The logic of funding the clearly biased WSJ show (a for profit company) with public funds and then later cutting funding for the NOW show and reducing it from an hour to 30 minutes all in the name of balance does not add up, Tomlinson did not succeed in making his case today. True, Bill Moyers is a liberal guy (we all know he is a democrat from way back) but his show invited guests from a variety of viewpoints and as one caller on the show pointed out, NOW (with its new host David Brancaccio) is one of the few places that we can hear rational debate by experts and policy makers with opposing points of view without the childish name calling and shouting you see on Fox and other commercial networks.

Diane Rehm asked Tomlinson to explain where he got the idea that there is a bias problem in the first place as the polls that the CPB commissioned show that a majority of Americans find public broadcasting to be neutral and trusted conveyers of information. Tomlinson acknowledged the polls but insisted the Moyer's program is activist journalism and the only way to counter it is with shows like the WSJ program. He offered no evidence of his own to support his point of view, or any explanation of why he chose to ignore the polling evidence in front of him. The WSJ program makes no attempt at airing all sides of an issue and makes no apology for it--it is proudly conservative. Tomlinson vision of public broadcasting journalism seems to be to have a mix of ideologically based programs instead of the more balanced journalism we expect and deserve from a public broadcasting system. If we want to watch partisans shout, pundits bicker, and complex public policy issues reduced to sound bites, commercial television holds plenty for us.

Rehm also questioned him on the recent creation of two ombudsman positions to "oversee" public broadcasting programs for bias. (our petition calls for the elimination of these positions). Tomlinson shuddered and said their role was not to "oversee" but to respond to public complaints about bias and have a good public dialogue about programming. He did not give a clear answer about what role the ombudsmen would play in affecting programming decisions in the event of public complaints and reiterated how he felt public debate was healthy and that we should lower the temperature of the conversation. The answer was unsatisfactory and Diane Rehm let him know it by asking, "doesn't it go against the mission of the CPB board to hire these ombudsman?" and, "isn't CPB suppose to protect the editorial independence of public broadcasting?" and "doesn't NPR already have an ombudsman and shouldn't it be NPR and PBS that make programming decisions?" Unless Tomlinson comes up with some real answers to these questions I think the temperature of the debate will get hotter, much hotter... and it should much is at stake. Here is the link to the show if you want to give it a listen.

Tags: Media and Democracy (all tags)

Diane Rehm Takes Tomlinson to the Woodshed :: 6 Comments

Tomlinson

Oh my god YES!!! It was a pleasure to watch Ms Rehm take Tomlinson to the woodshed. The CPB is out of control and I applaud Diane Rehm for her line of questioning! Edward R. Murrow would be proud!

by Anonymous Citizen on Thu May 19, 2005 at 02:22:40 PM EST

Message Sent to Diane Rehm

Dear Diane:

It's 20 hours later and I'm still shaking. If I hadn't heard Bill Moyers magnificent key note address from the National Conference on Monday, and downloaded both the audio and the transcript, I would be foaming at the mouth now.

Before your Friday News WrapUp, please go to http://www.freepress.net/conference/ and arm yourself with Bill Moyers. Every time Tomlinson said that his brilliant "Now" was liberal-biased, I wanted to whisper in your ear this quote from Bill's Saturday speech:

"The more compelling our journalism, the angrier the radical right of the Republican party became. That's because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."

Thank you for what must have been a very difficult show for you. To have Tomlinson actually say to your face that NPR needed more classical music and less news must have been apalling.

I am a great lover of classical music, and I must admit I was even outspoken five or so years ago when KUER in Salt Lake City dropped their decades-old format and brought you in, I have since had my eyes and ears opened. I now know that Tomlinson's pandering to the arts has nothing to do with Horowitz, Beethoven, Shostakovitch and Mahler, and EVERYTHING to do with shutting down the remaining leaks in this increasingly totalitarian administration. What an insult to Beethoven to use the Ode to Joy as MUZAK while secretly and viciously destroying anything/anyone that gets between the Bush profiteers and their drive get the "precious": oil... money... power.

Diane, my employment (correcting data outsourced to China) has allowed me to listen to you daily for over two years. Because of you I have read the books of David Corn, Kevin Phillips and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and more. All of which lead me to write the Know Bush Facts I have been sending to you and an email list that has grown to approximately 4,500 recipients since January 2004. In October I even went live onstage here in Salt Lake with "Know Bush: Launching Facts That Shock & Awe, A One Person Patriot Act." All because I listened to you.

Not because you had a liberal bias -- but because your hosting of both sides showed me what my choices truly were.

Please invite Bill Moyers on. It is time to take heart and stand up for public broadcasting!!!

I sincerely thank you.

OnePerson Making A Difference Launching Facts That Shock and Awe

by OnePerson on Thu May 19, 2005 at 06:20:51 PM EST

Re: Message Sent to Diane Rehm

OnePerson says it all so well. Moyers' spot on treatment of what's going on with CPB is thrilling to see. Perhaps the tide will turn. Meanwhile, OnePerson, please share how one can tap into your regular writings.

by David K on Thu May 19, 2005 at 06:45:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Message Sent to Diane Rehm

Great note OnePerson! You should post your comments here more often. Really enjoyed reading your thoughts.

by bluestreet on Fri May 20, 2005 at 08:24:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Tomlinson - P.N.A.C. link

I started googling the P.N.A.C. members listed here and came up with the site below about the BBG

Peter Rodman is one of the P.N.A.C. members...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article53 01.htm
"So what is the Project for a New American Century? Basically it's a right-wing think tank. What makes it different is its membership. On June 3, 1997, PNAC laid out its agenda. Twenty five people signed that document: Elliott Abrams, Bill Bennett, Gary Bauer, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Francis *censored*uyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalizad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz, Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen, Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel and Paul Wolfowitz. "

http://www.sw-asia.com/People/Bio952.htm

BBG - Broadcasting Board of Governors:
"Veronique Rodman Appointed to the Broadcasting Board of Governors
Washington, DC., December 31, 2003--

Veronique Rodman, a public relations specialist and former television producer, has been appointed to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the bipartisan, nine-member board which supervises all U.S. nonmilitary international broadcasting.

President Bush nominated Rodman to the BBG on October 24, 2003, and gave her a recess appointment on Dec. 26, 2003.

"Veronique Rodman brings to the BBG an understanding of international affairs and broadcasting,"
said Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the BBG's chairman.

I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world. Eugene V. Debs

by lazydog on Sat Jun 25, 2005 at 03:33:20 PM EST

Diane Rehm Takes Tomlinson to the Woodshed

It goes without saying that Diane Rehm is a communist. She endorses that type of propoganda. She could never live in the real world. Sad, so sad.

by Anonymous Citizen on Fri Jul 01, 2005 at 05:20:44 PM EST

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Diane Rehm Takes Tomlinson to the Woodshed

By Lauren ColettaPosted on Wed May 18, 2005 at 01:29:05 PM EST

By Lauren Coletta
Posted on Wed May 18, 2005 at 01:29:05 PM EST